


Wherever You Go

by thatfragilecapricorn



Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 15:02:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10123718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatfragilecapricorn/pseuds/thatfragilecapricorn
Summary: Written for The TXF Fic Chick's Post-Ep ChallengeMissing scene from "The Red and the Black"





	

Mulder was dribbling a basketball through his apartment, trying to decide if he should watch the basketball or baseball game on TV. Though actually holding a basketball in his hands was making him biased, he thought. Maybe he should swing his baseball bat a few times and then decide. He was heading toward his closet to grab the bat when the phone rang.

The only person it could be was Scully, however, it is very unlike her to be calling at 9 pm on a Sunday. Usually it was him calling her. He decided it must be her anyway and answered the phone with, “Hey, Scully.”

“Mulder?” she sounded a little breathless, a little frantic. Immediately Mulder was put on alert. He was already worried about her after she almost died at Ruskin Dam and this phone call wasn’t helping ease his nerves.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, suddenly feeling very anxious.

“It’s happening again,” she said, her voice strained and unfocused. It was as if she was concentrating on something other than their phone conversation.

“Scully, what’s happening?” he asked, already abandoning the basketball and grabbing his shoes.

“The chip… it’s calling me…” she said, starting to fade out.

Mulder grabbed his car keys. “Scully, listen to me. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right over. Just hang on.”

“Please… hurry…” was the last thing he heard as he threw the phone down and raced out of his apartment.

Mulder sped through the quiet DC streets, hoping that she could hold out for just a few minutes until he got there. He shuddered to think what would happen this time. She got lucky at Ruskin Dam, escaping only with some burns. She might not be so lucky this time.

He ran up to her floor, forgoing the creaky elevator that moved at a snail’s pace. He got to her door and knocked first, hoping for a speedy response. He gave it ten seconds, then used the key she gave him to unlock her door. She wasn’t in the immediate vicinity.

“Scully,” he called out. No answer.

His heart started pounding. If she left the apartment, he thought, there is no way I’ll find her. He walked to her bedroom. Not there. There was one last place to check. The door to the bathroom was ajar and when he pushed it open, there was Scully, seated on the floor by the sink. She had handcuffed herself around the base of the sink and was clearly straining against the metal handcuffs. He had a second of admiration for her resourcefulness before protective Mulder kicked in and he went to assist her.

“Scully,” he said, sitting next to her gently, not wanting to startle her.

She didn’t respond. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be in deep concentration. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead. It seemed like it was taking all of her self-control not to rip the base of the sink out from the wall. He knew she had the strength for it if she really wanted to.

He brushed the hair back from her face and she opened her eyes.

“Mulder,” she breathed. She let out a long sigh. “I think I’ve got it under control,” she joked, lifting her hands to shake the metal bracelets.

Mulder disagreed. He could see where her delicate wrists were turning red from pulling against the handcuffs. Luckily he always carried a key with him and he used that to unlock the handcuffs.

When Scully realized what he was doing, she protested weakly, “No, Mulder, you can’t. The chip – it’s calling me and it’s so hard to fight it.”

“I’m going to help you,” he told her. That’s what partners do, he thought. And Scully was so much more than a partner to him.

 He sat back against the wall and pulled her into him, so her back was resting against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, preventing her from moving. He was so glad she was so small or they might have had a real struggle.

“Just try to relax,” he said, smoothing a hand over her hair. “It will pass. I’m not going to let them take you anywhere.”

She laughed, “You’re lucky I have good self-control or you’d have a lot more bruises.”

She was kidding around but he felt very serious. “You’re the strongest person I know, Scully,” he said, tightening his grip slightly.

They sat there for about an hour, Scully in deep concentration once again. It seemed to take all of her will to sit still, while Mulder tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Eventually he felt Scully’s muscles un-tense, no longer having to resist the chip’s compulsion. She was limp in his arms and he could tell that she was exhausted because she didn’t say anything, her earlier joking a thing of the past. Mulder couldn’t even imagine the mental fortitude it took to fight that pressure from the chip. But if anyone could do it, it was Scully.

He picked her up and carried her to her bed, where he laid her down. She curled up on her side, already half-asleep. He went to her bathroom to grab a damp washcloth to wipe her face and when he returned she was sitting up, forcing her eyes open even though Mulder could see them start to slide shut.

“Scully, lay down,” he coaxed with a light hand on her shoulder, “Why don’t you try to sleep?”

“I can’t,” she whispered, suddenly looking afraid.

“Is it…did it turn back on?” he asked, nervous again.

“Not yet,” she said. “But what if it happens again while I’m sleeping? That’s what happened at Ruskin Dam. I won’t be able to fight it if I’m asleep, Mulder,” she said, sounding more and more upset.

“Hey, hey,” he said, moving to sit next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “You sleep, and I’ll stay here and watch over you.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because she pushed away from him. “You don’t understand. It could happen at any time. I’m going to have to worry for the rest of my life. You’re not always going to be there.”

“Then I’ll stay here every night,” he stated stubbornly.

“Mulder, that’s just not practical. You need to sleep, too,” she said wearily, not convinced by his chivalry.

“I don’t care, I don’t care,” he repeated. He would do anything to protect her and forgoing sleep would be nothing to him. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you and I’m definitely not going to let that chip take you away. I’ll stay up every night if I have to,” he declared, full of conviction, starting to sound like the lead from a romance novel. He didn’t care about that either.

Her eyes searched his face, maybe trying to ascertain if he was serious. Something must have convinced her because she acquiesced.

“Okay,” she said quietly and started to lie back down.  He went with her, moving his arm to lay across her waist and curling his body around her.

“You’re my _partner_ ,” he whispered, hoping that she realized that he didn’t just mean in the context of the FBI. “I’m going wherever you go.”

He wasn’t sure if she heard him or had already fallen asleep. But then he felt her hand clasp his and knew that she understood.


End file.
